Method and apparatus for orienting elongated tapered agricultural products



June 4, 1968 E. E. ROSS ET AL 3,386,557

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORIENTING ONGATED TAPERED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCFiled April 6. 1967 5 WWW MM w mm 2 7 3W 7 #4 A wwywr M5 C Zw UnitedStates Patent 3,386,557 METHUD AND APPARATUS FUR ORIENTING ELONGATEDTAPERED AGRIEULTURAL PRODUCTS Edward E. Ross, Lafayette, Califi, .laclrCunningham, Pittsburgh, Pa, and Fred Hartman, Toppenish, Wash, assignorsto California Packing Corporation, San Francsco, Calif., a corporationof New York Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 394,436, Sept.4, 1964. This application Apr. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 628,971

6 Eialms. (Cl. NS-30) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and apparatusfor orienting elongated tapered agricultural products (e.g., corn). Theproducts are conveyed over a table and then deposited upon the upper endof an inclined roll surface. While being conveyed along the tablesurface the products are arranged to control the areas of the rollsurface upon which the products are deposited. The products roll downthe roll surface in an arcuate manner and are received in means locatedalong the side edges of the roll surface, with their largest endspointing downwardly.

This invention is related to the processing of agricultural products,and more particularly to a method and apparatus for orienting elongatedtapered agricultural products such as corn, carrots, turnips, parsnipsand the like. The present application is a continuation of part of ourcopending application S.l l. 394,486, filed Sept. 4, 1964, and entitled,Method and Apparatus for Orienting Tapered Agricultural Products.

In Patent No. 3,268,057 we have disclosed and claimed an apparatus forthe orientation of elongated tapered agricultural products whichinvolves the use of a sloped roll surface upon which the products aredeposited. Each product so deposited rolls down in an ar-cuate mannerwhereby it is received in means located at the side edges of thesurface, with its largest end pointed downwardly. For best results it isdesirable to control the areas of the roll surface upon which theproducts are deposited. Particularly it is desirable for each product tobe deposited in an optimum position relative to the side edges of theroll surface, and in such a manner that the products will not interferewith each other during their rolling motion.

In general, it is an object of the present invention to provide anapparatus and method which utilizes the principles disclosed in theaforesaid Patent 3,268,057, but which deposits the products upon theupper end of the roll surface in a predetermined optimum manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method ofthe above character which employs a pre-arranging of the productsimmediately before they are delivered to the upper end of a rollsurface.

Additional objects and features of the invention will appear from thefollowing description in which the preferred embodiment has been setforth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In general, the invention consists of a table forming an upwardly facedworking surface. Means is provided for conveying the elongated taperedagricultural products over the table surface with the axes of theproducts disposed laterally of the direction of conveying movement.

3,386,557 Patented June 4, 1968 At the discharge end of the table meansis provided which forms a sloped or inclined roll surface. This surfacehas its upper end located to receive products derived from the table,and such products are caused to roll down this surface in an arcuatemanner. Means is provided in conjunction with the table surface foracting upon the products whereby they are arranged in a predeterminedmanner before being discharged upon the roll surface. At the side edgesof the roll surface means are provided for receiving the products withtheir largest diameter ends pointed downwardly.

Referring to the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view schematically illustrating one embodimentof our invention;

FlGURE 2 is a detail in section, taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1showing the means which acts upon the products to arrange them as theyare being moved toward the roll surface;

FIGURE 3 is a View like FIGURE 1 but showing a modification; and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional detail taken along the line 44 of FIGURE3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary plan view showing another embodiment.

The apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 consists of a feed table 11, the upperworking surface of which may be horizontal. The means employed formoving ears of corn or other elongated tapered agricultural productsover the table surface consists in this instance of the parallel spacedflights 12 which are indicated as being attached at their ends to theendless conveyer chains 13. It is assumed that cars of corn 14 aredeposited between the flights 12 either manually or by suitablemechanical means. As conveyed across the table surface by the flights12, the axes of all of the ears are generally parallel and lateral ortransverse to the direction of conveying movement. However, the ears donot have endwise orientation, in that some of the ears have theirlargest diameter ends pointing in one direction, while the other carshave their largest diameter ends pointing in an opposite direction. Asthe ears 14 are moved toward the discharge end of the table, they passover the endless belt conveyers 16.. The upper runs of these conveyersare coincident with the plane of the table surface. The two endless beltconveyors 16 are driven by suitable means in opposite directions asindicated. In other words, the two belts are counter-rotating.

At the discharge end of the table 11 the products are deposited upon theupper end of the downwardly sloped roll surface 17. Channels 18 aredisposed along the side edges of the surface 17 and represent suitablemeans for receiving the products.

Operation of the apparatus shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, and the carryingout of our method is as follows. Means not illustrated is employed tosupply the ears of corn to the right hand end of the table 11, as shownin FIGURE 1. One ear of corn is deposited in the space between each pairof flights. The orientation at this time is indiscriminate in that thelargest diameter ends of some ears point in one direction, and thelargest diameter ends of the other cars point in the opposite direction.Likewise, the ears are deposited without regard to their positioningrelative to the sides of the table. In other words, some ears may benear one side edge of the table, and others may be nearer the middle.The ears retain their initial positioning relative to the sides of thetable until they are moved over the counter-rotating a conveyers 16.These conveyers serve to effect an arrangement of the ears whereby theircenters of gravity are positioned at or near the center line between theconveyers 16. An ear in this position is illustrated in FiG- URE 2. Whenin this position the ear is acted equally upon by both of the conveyers16. When the center of gravity of the ear is not centralized withrespect to the two conveyers, one conveyer acts upon the ear with moreeffect than the other, whereby the ear is centralized. Thiscentralization of the ears whereby their centers of gravity arepositioned at or near the center line between the conveyers 16, takesplace irrespective of the direction in which the largest diameter end ispointed.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the ears of corn after being acted upon andarranged in a row by the conveyers 16, move on to the discharge end ofthe table and are deposited upon the upper end of the sloped rollsurface 17. By virtue of the principle of operation described in ouraforesaid Patent 3,268,057, the ears roll downwardly in an arcuatemanner as illustrated in FIGURE 1, with the result that the ears of oneorientation roll into one of the side channels 18, and the ears of theother orientation roll into the other side channel. Thus the ears aredeposited in the side channels with their largest diameter ends pointingdownwardly. The ears may be removed from the lower ends of thesechannels for further process ing operations.

It is also a characteristic of the positioning action of the conveyers16 that the smallest end of an ear deposited upon the roll surface 17 isnearest that side of the roll surface toward which the ear rolls. Thisis by virtue of the fact that the center of gravity of an ear of corn isnearest to its largest diameter end.

It will be evident from the foregoing that our invention avoidsindiscriminate or random delivery of the ears of corn to the rollsurface 17. Such random delivery tends to decrease orientationefficiency, particularly since it may cause a product to be deliverednear the wrong edge of the roll surface, or the products may be bunchedtoo close together on the roll surface and therefore caused to interferewith each other. With our invention, the products are deposited on theroll surface near a central region of the same, and with the smaller endof each product properly spaced from the side edge toward which itrolls. In other words, there is adequate control over the areas of theroll surface upon which the products are dropped, thereby increasing theorienting efficiency.

In some instances it may be desirable to supplement the conveyers 16with the overhead conveyers. As schematically illustrated in FIGURE 3,the overhead conveyers 21 can be spaced from the conveyers 16 in such amanner as to engage the upper sides of the products. Conveyers 21 arelikewise counter-rotated with each conveyer 21 being driven in adirection compatible with the underlying conveyer 16. FIGURE 4illustrates suitable mounting means for the upper conveyers 21. They areshown supported by springs 22, the arrangement being such that theconveyers can move upwardly to accommodate products of differentdiameters.

FIGURE shows another embodiment in which two sets of rotating belts 26are employed instead of the conveyers 16 of FIGURE 1. The individualones of the belts are conventional V belts. They are disposed side byside to form a common upper conveying surface coincident with the planeof the table surface. Two sets are shown disposed at an angle of about90 to each other. In other words they are arranged V-fashion with theapex of the V at the center of the table and pointed in the direction ofmovement of the products.

The conveyer arrangement of FIGURE 5 acts like conveyers 16 to move theproducts into positions with their centers of gravity substantially inalignment with the center of the table. It has been found thatdiagonally arranged conveyer 'belts as shown in FIGURE 5 are more iieffective in moving the cars 14 sideways within the flights 12.

The conveyer arrangement of FIGURE 5 is shown and claimed in ourcop-ending application Ser. No. 628,972 filed simultaneously herewith.

It Will be evident from the foregoing that we have provided an orientingmethod and apparatus which utilizes certain of the principles disclosedin our Patent 3,268,057, but with improved efficiency due to the mannerin which the products are arranged before they are deposited or releasedon the roll surface.

We claim:

1. In a method of orienting elongated ta ered agricultural products, thesteps of conveying the products one-by-one over an upwardly facedworking surface, the products having their axes extending laterally tothe direction of conveying movement with some having their largestdiameter ends pointing in one direction and the others having theirlargest diameter ends pointing in an opposite direction, arranging theproducts on the working surface by axial movement of products toward acentral region of the surface whereby they are all spaced inwardly ofthe side edges of the working surface, thereafter depositing theproducts one by one on the upper portion of a sloped roll surface,causing each of the products to roll in an arc down said surface andtoward the edges thereof, whereby the largest diameter ends of theproducts are caused to point downwardly, and then removing the productsfrom the roll surface at the edges thereof.

2. A method as in claim 1 in which the products are arranged in spacedrelationship with the side edges of the working surface by moving themaxially to positions in which their centers of gravity are positioned ator near the longitudinal center line of the working surface whereby eachproduct is disposed behind a preceding product.

3. In apparatus for orienting elongated tapered agricultural products,table means forming an upwardly faced working surface, means forconveying said products over the table surface with the axes of theproducts disposed laterally of the direction of conveying movement,means forming a downwardly sloped roll surface having its upper endlocated at the discharge end of the table to receive products dischargedfromthe table surface, said roll surface extending downwardly from thedischarge end of the conveyer and in the same direction as the conveyingmovement whereby when said products are deposited thereon from the tablesurface they are each caused to roll in an arcuate manner down the rollsurface, means acting on the products while they are being moved overthe table surface to move the same axially to regions spaced inwardlyfrom the side edges of the table surface, and means at the side edges ofthe roll surface for receiving the products therein with their largestdiameter ends pointed downwardly.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 in which said last-named means for receivingthe products forms channels in which the products are deposited.

5. Apparatus as in claim 3 in which the means acting on the productswhile they are being moved over the table surface to arrange them inregions spaced inwardly from the side edges of the table surfaceconsists of conveyers mounted between the ends of the table surface,said conveyers having portions engaging and acting upon the products tomove the same into regions spaced from the side edges of the tablesurface and adjacent the middle of the same.

6. In apparatus for orienting elongated tapered agricultural products,table means forming an upwardly faced working surface, means forconveying said products over the working surface with the axes of theproducts disposed laterally of the direction of conveying movement, saidmeans including parallel flights extending laterally across the workingsurface and moved longitudinally of the working surface, each of thespaces between the flights 5 being adapted to accommodate a product,means forming a sloped roll surface having its upper end located toreceive products discharged from: one end of the working surface, saidroll surface extending downwardly from the discharge end of the workingsurface and in the same direction as the direction of conveying movementwhereby when said products are deposited thereon they roll in an arcuatepath down the roll surface, conveyers acting on the products while theyare being moved toward the roll surface, said conveyers having movingportions contiguone with the plane of the working surface and extendingfrom the side edges of the working surface to the center 6 thereof, saidportions acting upon products to cause such products to be arranged in acentral region of the working surface, and means at the side edges ofthe roll surface for receiving the products with their largest diameterends pointed downwardly.

References Qited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,541,300 2/1951 Silva 198-323,268,057 8/1966 Ross a- 198-32 RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner.

